While there's still a week of practice to get through before any final decisions are made, it appears that defensive end Ziggy Ansah will make his Seahawks debut in Seattle's Week 3 game against the New Orleans Saints.

Ansah, one of Seattle's top free-agent additions in the offseason, had shoulder surgery last season that delayed his preparation for this season, and as a result he was held out of the first two games. If things go well this week, however, the former Pro Bowler will play a significant role for Seattle against the Saints.

"The expectation is that he's going to play this week," Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Monday. "It has just taken us this long to get through it, we wanted to make sure everything was right—he was right, the mentality was right, he had enough reps. He has had three good weeks of work now, and he's in really good shape. He has worked really hard, he's in terrific condition. So he's going to be able to play if he gets through the week and everything goes well, and he'll play a considerable amount because he has practiced hard enough to do that. That's really going to be fun to see him out there. You'll see how we use him and where he's going to fit in and all that at game time, but I'm really excited about that. He was a guy that was really important to us in the offseason to get him so that he could help us with the losses of the guys who were going other places, so now it's finally coming together."

Here's what Carroll said about the rest of Seattle's injury situation heading into the week:

G D.J. Fluker

Fluker was the only injury reported in Sunday's game, having left briefly with an ankle injury before returning to the game.  

"D.J., we've got to wait and see, I don't know," Carroll said. "His attitude about it is that he's going to play and all that, but we've got to wait and see Wednesday, Thursday and see what happens. I can't tell you any more than that."

G Mike Iupati

Iupati made his first start after missing almost all of camp and the preseason with foot and calf injuries, and he came out of the game OK aside from cramps that caused him to miss a couple of plays.  

"Mike is doing fine, he just cramped up a little bit at the end of the game," Carroll said. "We had planned to maybe rotate him, but he was handling it well, but at the end we just needed to give him a break."

DT Poona Ford

Ford missed Sunday's game due to a calf injury sustained in the opener, but he will practice this week with the hope of playing against the Saints.

"He's going to practice, yeah," Carroll said. "He's really determined to try to do something."

S Tedric Thompson

Thompson, who started the opener at free safety, missed Sunday's game with a hamstring injury and could be out again this week.

"He's going to do some stuff," Carroll said. "It's going to be a challenge for him to get back this week though, we're not sure he can make it."

CB Neiko Thorpe

Thorpe also missed the game with a hamstring injury sustained in the opener, and he too will be fighting an uphill battle to get back this week.

"Neiko's kind of like Tedric in that it's going to be a race to make it by the end of the week," Carroll said.